The Adventures Of
by TheMaskedArtist
Summary: A few years after Dally's death, Raelee, Two-Bit, Ponyboy, and Curly are ready to start a whole new life. College life. Stick with Rae as she experiences life in a while new way. Sequel to "Raelee"
1. A New Beginning

(A/N: As promised, the start of one of the sequels. I'm done with classes for the semester and I have a few months of freedom ahead of me to game/write. I hope you enjoy! ^^

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own the Outsiders, or the characters that are in the book. Raelee, and the other originals that appear in this story belong to me.)

**Chapter 1**

_Dear Dally,_

_It's time now. Today's the day that Two-Bit, Curly, Pony, and I are going up to the University with the boys. We'll be moved into our dorms by the end of the day. Classes start at the beginning of the week. I can't believe this is actually happening. It's all so exhilarating. Cherry made sure that we were roommates this year, since we can't have coed rooms. She said she wanted to help me around campus since it's my first year. She gave up rooming with the cheerleaders to help me around. She's been really nice. You sure know how to pick 'em. She's real cute. You know, she hasn't had a boyfriend since…since then. Pony's been sweet on her. I think she'll crack soon .They'll go well together._

_Anyway, I've been signed up for my classes already. They've put me in my major but they wanted me to get a few general education classes out of the way before I start taking the serious classes. Thankfully, I took a few classes in my later high school years that were college-level. I don't have to take any Foreign Language or Science. I do have to take math, though. I hate math. But you knew that already. They're making me take a physical education class. At least all of the boys are in that class with me. Two-Bit and Curly are going into the college of mechanics. Ponyboy wants to become an English teacher. _

_I think we'll have a lot of fun. Don't worry, though, big brother. I won't go to too many parties or get drunk. I'll make sure to keep my mind on my studies. I'm sure Pony will make sure of that. And Two-Bit sets the prime example of what not to do. I'm sure I'll remember. _

_I think that I've gotten better since our last talk. The nightmares have stopped and Two-Bit hasn't had to stop my screaming in the middle of the night. I hope it stays this way. I know you hate it when I can't 'man up.' I want to make you proud._

_Alright, Dally. It's time to get going. The boys are all waiting for me outside. I'll talk to you soon. I love you!_

Raelee Winston stepped outside of Tim Shepard's car. The sun was bright and hot. It made her squint, even through her sunglasses. There were a lot of other people walking around her. They were carrying boxes and suitcases. There were so many…

"Wow," she heard Darry say, walking over to them. He had parked his truck behind Tim's car. "This place is huge." She nodded.

"Yeah, seriously." Curly got out of the front seat, throwing a backpack over his shoulder. "You sure we can survive here?" Rae joked as Tim lifted himself out as well. Two-Bit and Steve rolled up in that old busted car that Two-Bit's been driving since god knows when. _Wow, everyone did actually come._ Soda was messing with Ponyboy's hair back by Darry's truck. She could remember back three years ago when he was blonde. She suggested that he keep it that color. The boys all made fun of him, but she thought it was rather becoming.

"I can't believe you guys are college age," Darry said, checking Rae out. "I'm happy you guys are choosing to go to college. But, you'll be paying it off for the rest of your lives, I'm sure." Rae laughed.

"Isn't that how it's supposed to go?" she asked, turning back towards the building.

"At least we're not too far away from each other," Pony said, moving away from his other brother. "I read up about it. The college introduced co-ed dorms this semester. They have the girls on the even floors and the boys on the odd. We all ended up in the same building." Rae smiled, mischievously.

"Well, at least you can come see Cherry anytime you want to, huh, Pony?" She received a light smack on the back of the head from the oldest Curtis. She held her hands up in surrender. "I was kidding! Kidding!" She laughed. "Shit, I was thinking about doing the same thing myself."

"Alright, alright guys. We better get up there and get you guys moved in. I don't want to be driving home late." With that, everyone started unpacking the cars. Rae reached into Tim's trunk to get her suitcases. Curly came up next to her to grab his and gave her a wink. She giggled. "Okay. Tim, you go help Curly, obviously. Soda and I are with Pony. Two-Bit and Steve go with Rae and make sure she gets all settled in with Cherry before you get yourself settled in. Meet back down here in, say, an hour."

The boys grabbed her suitcases. She tried to snatch them back but they insisted they could make a second trip to pick up Two-Bits things afterwards. She surrendered and grabbed a cardboard box full of her things into the building in front of them. She got checked in at the front desk and received a key. She was on the fourth floor of the building. The boys went ahead and got Two-Bit's key as well. He was one floor up from her. They took the busy elevator up and reached the room. The door was already open, so she pocketed the key.

"Rae!" Cherry exclaimed with a smile as they entered the door. "Hey, Two-Bit, Steve."

"Hey, Cherry," Rae greeted her and set the box down on top of a set of drawers. She looked around. "Wow, this is big for a college room." Cherry nodded and finished setting the sheets on her bed.

"Yeah, this building is known for its big dorms." She sighed, happily. "That's why I picked it." The older girl stood up and walked over to them. "I hope you don't mind but I chose the bed farther away from the window. I don't like sleeping close to them."

"No, that's fine," Rae said, quickly. "I'm used to sleeping next to windows. It's not problem at all." Cherry smiled again. "Anyway, we're just going to drop some stuff off here and then go move Two-Bit in. I'll be back later." They said their goodbyes and went back downstairs.

Close to an hour later, Rae, Two-Bit, and Steve went back downstairs from the fifth floor to meet the rest of their friends. _How ironic that he be on the fifth floor,_ Rae thought to herself with a smile. She saw Curly's back facing her, standing with the Curtis brothers. She ran and leaped onto his back. He didn't even stumble, as if he was expecting it, and wrapped his arms around the backs of her legs.

"Hey, beautiful," he said, smiling his handsome smile.

"All moved in?" she asked him, laying her head down on his shoulder.

"Yup. I'm on the third floor with Pony. Kind of cool that we got the same room."

"Mm…Two-Bit's all the way up on the fifth. His roommate is a weird little kid." Before Curly could comment, Darry called them all to attention.

"Everyone moved in?" he asked, looking around.

"Yeah," Rae said.

"Yup," Two-Bit answered. Ponyboy and Curly didn't need to answer, since their brothers had made sure that he was settled in the same room. Curly let go of Rae's legs and she dropped off of his back.

"You guys have fun, you hear? But not too much fun," the eldest Curtis brother demanded. "You had better keep your grades up or they'll put you on probation. This is a lot different than high school." Two-Bit grinned widely. "You too, Matthews. Make sure to call us every once in a while, alright? Make sure we know when to come pick you up for breaks and stuff."

"Ya done yet, Muscles?" Two-Bit complained.

"Now, don't get mouthy or I'll put you back in this car and drive you back to Tulsa." Silence. "Alright, you guys. We'd better say our goodbyes. It's getting late."

After many hugs and 'take care's, Darry, Soda, and Steve climbed into the truck and drove off. Tim stayed for a few minutes longer, but soon was gone as well. Curly grabbed Rae's hand.

"Now what?" Rae asked, looking around at all of her friends.

"We're free, Rae!" Two-Bit exclaimed. "Classes ain't started yet. We should go party!" They all burst into laughter and agreed as they climbed into Two-Bit's car.


	2. A New Outfit

**Chapter 2**

_Dear Dally,_

_It's been two weeks since classes started. Two-Bit is still being just as lazy as he was when we were in high school. He's going to get kicked out if he doesn't start getting serious. It's already worrying me. Although, he did scare his roommate so bad that the kid moved out. I think it had to do with all of his stolen goods. But, he has the whole room to himself and now we all have a place to hang out. Darry is real worried about us being on our own. He calls almost every day._

_My classes are going well. The only class I have for my major is Intro to Psychology. I'm kind of upset that I have to take all of these other classes first. All four of us are in the same English class. I would have thought Pony would be in a higher level class but I guess that these are general education classes they made everyone take. We all hate you physical education class. It's tough. Rumbles and all that are one thing, but actually running and stuff…I hate…it so much. Two-Bit and Curly said they're already having a hard time since they smoke. I guess it's a good thing that my lungs are clean, huh? _

_This college thing is hard. You know, I always hated studying. Cherry has to keep me awake sometimes. She's trying so hard. It's really great but I'm worried that she won't be able to keep up with her own classes if she keeps worrying about me. For some reason, I think she feels she owes me or something. I don't know._

_Anyway, Dal, it's Friday night. Curly's borrowing Two-Bit's car and taking me out to dinner. It probably won't be anything real fancy. Then, we're going to swing back here and go out around town with Pony and Two-Bit. We're going to see if we can find an outfit to hang with while we're living here._

_I'll talk to you later, Dally. I love you!_

Rae stepped out of the front seat of Two-Bit's car. The atmosphere felt familiar as she looked across the almost-empty field they had parked near. The only inhabitants were five or 6 boys. She looked at them and swore she saw the group she had grown up with. The boys across the field wore the same clothes that they had for so many years- and still did. Her other three friends got out and they all began to approach the others. Two-Bit and Curly both lit a cigarette. They always did when they thought they needed to look tuff.

"Who are you?" the tallest, biggest boy asked as the four reached the other gang. Rae kept quiet. She knew most outfits weren't partial to having girls in their groups.

"I'm Curly," her boyfriend started. She knew he had experience in leading and dealing with others. "Curly Shepard." She watched him extend his hand to the boy in front of him. He took it, and they both shook. "We're from Tulsa, currently attending the University. We're looking for an outfit to hang with while we're here."

"We don't deal with girls," one of them sneered, behind his leader. Rae looked towards him, then towards the leader. He was staring down at her. His penetrating blue eyes reminded her of Dally's blazing eyes. Curly looked down at her as well.

"She's a good fighter. She can hold her own. You've probably heard of her older brother." The guy in front of Curly moved in front of her. She followed him with her eyes. Her head followed when he grabbed her by the chin and examined the long scars on the sides of her face, where Angela had cut her.

"Who is he?" he asked, not looking away.

"Dallas Winston," she said, jerking her head out of his hand. He gave a bitter smile. Oh, so like Dally.

"That grease who got shot up by the police for carrying an unloaded heater a few years ago?" Rae felt like something had just gone through her chest. He wasn't just a 'grease.' She decided to keep her mouth shut, though, and just nod. "Yeah, we've heard of him." He looked past her, noticing Ponyboy. "And you look a lot like that kid who was involved in the murder of that high class kid. I think he was blonde though…"

"That was me."

"Yeah, you look like the kid in that picture in the paper." He looked back to Curly. "Name's Nate." Curly flicked the cigarette out of his hand. "She'd better be as good as you say she is, Shepard. Once in a lifetime opportunity."

"Rae is one of the strongest we had back in Tulsa. She learned it all from Dally after-" Curly stopped short. She knew what he was thinking, and it was true. Ever since her father had raped her, Dally had started to teach her how to fend for herself.

"Hm?"

"Nevermind," he said, shaking his head. "She's just good."

"We'll see." Nate turned back to his group. "This is Max, Paul, Jeff, and Alan." Curly put a hand on Rae's shoulder.

"This is Raelee. She usually just goes by Rae," he introduced her, then pointed back to the other two boys. "Ponyboy is that kid and the other is Keith. We call him Two-Bit."

"All very interesting name," Nate said.

"So where are all the grease hangouts around here?" Two-Bit asked.

"Here's about it," Paul piped up, behind his leader. "These high-class bastards have pretty much taken everything from us."

"We call them Soc where we're from," Rae said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. They seemed to ignore her. Typical boys.

"We're waiting for them now," Nate said. "We're supposed to rumble tonight but it looks like the other greasers in this town chickened out. As usual."

"We'll help," Curly announced. "We haven't had a good rumble in a few months." Rae nodded. Two-Bit psyched up. Pony just stood there, looking upset. She knew he didn't really like to fight.

"They need to hurry up. It's getting late." After a few minutes, Rae sat down on the ground and leaned back on her hands. The sun was setting. Curly sat down next to her. She smiled at him and laid her head down on his shoulder. Not long after, the sound of tires of gravel could be heard. "Looks like they're here." Curly lifted himself up and then helped Rae up. She let her jean jacket slip off of her shoulders and down her arms. She flung it across the field and pulled her long hair back into a ponytail.

"Hey, Grease!" one of the Socs yelled as he got out of his car. "You so low on men that you have to bring in a girl?" Rae glared at the Socs who were approaching.

"This is so uneven," Pony, said, quietly. His eyes told them that he was startled at the amount of boys they had to face.

"It's always like this. And we always get stomped."

All of a sudden, Rae was on the ground. She hit it, hard. The breath had gotten knocked out of her. Startled, she looked up. Two-Bit had pulled the Soc off of her and was now beating the shit out of him.

"Well, that was unconventional," she muttered as she got up. The other boys got to fighting. Two of them ganged up on her. For a while, she played on the defense, waiting for an opening. Finally, she noticed one of them getting tired of swinging his whole weight towards her. He stupidly stopped to wipe the sweat off of his forehead. She smirked and slugged him in the face. She watched as he fell to the ground. She ducked the other guy's attack, but he had anticipated it and caught her in the face. Her lip busted wide open. She caught him quickly, in mid punch, and uppercut him in the stomach. She managed to lift him off of the ground a few inches before letting him fall off of her fist.

Rae looked around and saw Nate trying to take on four at a time. Needless to say, it wasn't doing him any good. She took off towards him. She slid, baseball style, into one of the Socs trying to get at him. The Soc fell backwards over her legs and hit his head.

"Shit," he said as he sat up. He stood and jogged back to his car. The others noticed and started to retreat as well.

"We've won," Nate said, staring in shock. Rae sat up.

"Told you I could hold my own." He laughed and held out his hand to her.

"Let me help you up," he offered. She smiled as well and took it. He lifted her up, but she almost immediately fell again.

"Easy there," Two-Bit said, kneeling down by the leg she slid on. "I know what happens to ball players when they slide into a base like that." He lifted up the leg of her pants, revealing a scrape the ran from her knee to her ankle. Parts of it were bleeding.

"Damn, girl," Nate said as he held her up. "Why don't you all come back to my place and get cleaned up?" Curly nodded and put Rae's free arm around his shoulders. Nate let her go.

As it turned out, the house Nate had rented out was only a few blocks away. It reminded Rae so much of home. The lot, close to the Curtis house, which was always open.

"Here. Set her down here." Curly gently put her down on the couch in the front room. All of the other boys filed in and found a place to sit. Nate went into the kitchen and came back less than a minute later with a wet kitchen rag. He sat in front of Rae and started wiping up the blood from her busted lip. It had apparently dropped down her chin and neck. She hadn't even realized. She watched Nate's face as he cleaned her up. He reminded her so much of Dally it scared her. There was another feeling, too. A feeling she didn't know how to explain. Once he was done, Rae sat back and laid her head on the cushion behind her. She sighed and closed her eyes.


	3. Memories

**Chapter 3**

When Rae opened her eyes, the room was dark. She was sitting on the same couch, in the same position she had fallen asleep in. There was a weak light, most likely from a street light, streaming in from the window behind her. It was enough to see, although she didn't know the way around Nate's house. She pushed herself off the couch with some difficulty. For a moment, she was confused. There were no boys asleep in the chairs or on the floor like there usually were in the Curtis house. She shrugged it off and limped through the front room and into the kitchen. She found the refrigerator and pulled open the door. It was barren. Not even any milk. She frowned and closed to door. She turned to the other end of the kitchen to see a light coming from the hallway. Curious, she moved towards it.

When she looked in the doorway the light was emanating from, she saw Nate sitting at a desk with nothing but a lamp on the top of it. He was leaning back in the wooden chair, staring out the window. He turned quickly when his light was interrupted by a shadow, his hand flying to his pocket. Rae jumped backwards, assuming he was going for his switchblade. Her back hit the wall behind her. _Thin hallway_, she thought with a grumble.

"Sorry," she said after she regained her composure. Nate sat all four legs of the chair back down on the floor and removed his hand from his pocket.

"Just can't get a break can you?" he asked as he stood up. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine. I run into walls all the time," Rae replied.

"Sorry about that," he said. "I didn't mean to scare you into the wall." He laughed and invited her into his room. She entered and sat down on his bed. He returned to the desk chair. "Your friends all went back to the dorms. They said they'd come get you tomorrow." She nodded. "How's your leg?" Rae looked down at her leg. Her jeans had been rolled up to it wouldn't irritate the scrape.

"It still hurts a little but I'll live." She smiled. Both of them went quiet. Nate went back to looking out the window. Rae looked over at him. He reminded her so much of Dally. He noticed her staring.

"What?" he asked, looking back over at her. She looked away again, her face reddening a little.

"Nothing. You just remind me of him…" She hugged her uninjured leg to herself and laid her chin on top of her knee.

"Your brother?" he asked, turning the entire chair towards her.

"Yeah. He was my idol." She smiled, remembering Dally's white-blonde hair and smirking eyes.

"Let me guess," Nate started. "I have the same hair color." He ran his hand through his pitch black hair.

"The opposite, actually. His was so blonde it was almost white. But, the bone structure in your face is the same. And your ice blue eyes. If not for your hair color, you could be twins."

"Well, he sounds like a looker," he said.

"He was," Rae said, smiling again. "He meant everything to me. He always protected me."

"From what?" Nate asked, looking straight into her eyes. Her eyes widened, remembering. _Accident child…_She broke away from his gaze, quickly and looked away.

"My father."

"What, did he beat you or something?" he sat back in his chair, crossing his arms across his chest.

"I'm a greaser and you think I need protection because of a beating?" she asked, letting go of her leg. She leaned back on her hands. "No, it was much worse. He's a sick man."

"Tell me about it," Nate said, seeing the fear in her eyes.

"No," she said, closing her eyes. "It's all in the past now. He's in jail and he won't be coming after me again. He family that took me in is part of my outfit and we haven't had any trouble since. No point in bringing up something like that." Rae opened her eyes again, pointing them towards him.

"But I can tell that you're still scared." She laughed.

"Scared? Me?" She sat up and crossed her legs. "I haven't been scared of anything after the night that Dally was shot. It's like he transferred some part of himself into me."

"That's not what your eyes tell me."

"My eyes are a pair of liars."

"I see."

The room went quiet again. Until the large grandfather clock sitting in the corner of the room went off. Rae jumped to her feet.

"Not scared, huh?"

"I was startled."

"Right." Nate stood up and walked to the clock.

"Where did you get that thing, anyway?" she asked. "It seems out of place."

"I like to collect things that don't belong anywhere else. We don't belong anywhere either, do we? I feel sorry for nice things like this."

"But, we do belong," Rae said, moving over to the clock as well. She ran a hand down the smooth wood. "We belong to our outfits, don't we? I mean, I belong to the Curtis outfit with Pony and Two-Bit. Curly belongs to the Shepard outfit. You belong to your outfit."

"We're still society's outcasts."

"I guess."

The awkward silence between them was back. Rae stared at the clock. Nate was staring down at her, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Oh," Rae said, looking away from the clock. "Is there anything to drink here? I was rather thirsty when I woke up, but we got to talking and I forgot to ask."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to put the pop in the pantry into the fridge. I hope you won't have a problem with it being warm," he said and led her back into the kitchen. He handed her a Coke bottle. She popped the top off and took a long swig of it.

"Thanks."

"Want a smoke?" he asked taking a pack of cigarettes out of his pack pocket.

"No, thanks. I don't smoke. Dally would have hated if I destroyed my lungs like he did." He nodded.

"Well, I guess we both better get to sleep. Your friends said they would be here early." Rae nodded and finished off her soda. Then, she moved back into the front room.

_Dear Dally,_

_I met someone today who reminds me of you. I'm feeling so many things at a time and I don't know how to explain it at all. I'm confused and also a bit frightened. Dally, what do I do? Something feels very wrong here._


End file.
